About Time
by CSIsnickers101
Summary: It's time for the team to interfere and show Nick and Sara what's right in front of them. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

About Time

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: This idea sort of just came to me a while ago. I'm hoping this year will be the year I get back to my best and get writing again. Keep hoping for Snickers! Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Nick had arrived at the lab slightly earlier than he'd planned or expected. But he'd woken up early and chose to just head into work, assuming some people would be around. And a few people were already preparing themselves for work, but not the one person he suspected he'd see. There was no sign of Sara, which he found odd. And to his surprise he was rather disappointed she wasn't there. He always looked forward to seeing her.

Nick soon shook that thought from his head, and was grateful when Warrick arrived and provided him with a credible distraction. Soon Catherine arrived too, followed by Grissom who popped his head round the break room door to say he was running a bit late after attending a meeting before he dashed off to his office. Yet, there was still no sign of Sara, or Greg for that matter.

Eventually Grissom entered the break room looking flustered but after letting out a puff of air he quickly regained his usual composure. He looked over the rim of his glasses and scanned the room, noticing that two of his team were absent but chose to announce the case regardless.

Nick zoned out, his eyes following Sara as she and Greg strolled down the hallway towards the break room, a smile slightly tugging at his lips. He was relieved to see her. It was something about how Sara looked that day that prevented him from looking away. Who was he kidding, it wasn't just that day, it was everyday. Recently Sara was looking even more beautiful than usual. And Nick was unwittingly finding her all the more attractive as the days went by. He couldn't help himself. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away.

"Close your mouth, Nicky," Catherine teased, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Nick closed his mouth and gulped, embarrassed that he'd been caught gawping at the lovely Sara Sidle.

"Yeah, man," Warrick chuckled. "You'll catch flies."

"M-my mouth wasn't open," Nick defended himself, though he knew there wasn't much point.

Warrick just shook his head, giving up on his friend who was pathetically in denial, as Greg and Sara entered the room.

"Hey, guys," Sara smiled. "What have we got?"

"Quadruple homicide," Catherine informed the pair.

"Of course we do," Greg sighed.

Grissom gave Nick a rather stern look for blatantly ignoring him as he relayed the information of the case. He left the room first, followed by everyone else as they braced themselves for the crime scene they were about to examine.

On the way to the crime scene Greg had explained how he'd been Sara's knight in shining armour in her desperate hour of need. She slept for longer than she'd anticipated to and then to make matters worse her car broke down a few miles from the lab. She would have laughed had she not been so angry. But out of nowhere Greg had appeared and given her a lift into work. It seemed as though as he told the story that he was boasting, at least that was how it seemed to Nick. He seemed to be beaming with pride. Nick couldn't help but be jealous. He would have done exactly the same thing for her. He could feel himself getting wound up until he took a deep breath and remembered it really wasn't that big a deal, it was only a lift into work. They weren't competing for her affections.

They soon arrived at their destination. The crime scene was a mess. The team briefly discussed their individual rolls and set about collecting and processing the evidence. It was slow going at first, but with so many people there the work load gradually lessened.

Nick had finished in his part of the house, one of the bedrooms, and judging by the soft toys and dolls it belonged the youngest daughter of the household. It wasn't an easy scene but he stayed professional, as they all did. They had to; now was not the time for emotions to get in the way. He wandered down the stairs, his eyes surveying as he went. He stepped outside and saw Warrick working the perimeter of the house, searching with a fine-toothed comb. He turned the corner and watched as Sara dusted for fingerprints around the smashed garage window, concluding it must have been the point of entry. She sighed, rubbing her arm across her forehead.

"Hard work, huh?" Nick smiled, leaning against the brick wall near her.

Sara nodded, slowly turning to face him.

"Hey, uh, you've got a bit of something on your face," Nick pointed out, trying to be discrete.

"I do? Where?" Sara asked, hopelessly wiping at her face.

Nick smiled at her. He found it kind of cute the way she was acting, but he decided to put her out of her misery and help her out.

"Here, let me," he insisted, moving towards her. He reached out and gently wiped at her forehead to remove the mark, probably printing dust, with very little effort.

In that moment they locked eyes and neither of them seemed to be able to move, with Nick's hand still lingering on her skin. It sent shivers down Sara's spine, and something very odd to happen inside her. The only way she knew to describe it was like butterflies, despite the cliché. Yet still, they didn't move apart. It was as though they were being drawn together like magnets. She knew they shouldn't have been doing that kind of thing at a crime scene but all she could do was focus on the man in front of her. The way he looked at her made her assume he was thinking the same thing. She soon took a deep breath and forced herself to take a step back from him after what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds.

Nick cleared his throat. "I, uh, I got it."

"Thanks," Sara smiled sheepishly before continuing to collect the fingerprint she'd found.

Nick walked back towards Warrick, who was standing grinning from ear to ear like the cat that got the cream. He threw a glance over his shoulder, seemingly staring longingly after Sara, only adding fuel to the fire.

"So, Nicky," Warrick elbowed him in the ribs lightly once he'd stopped next to him. "You and Sara seemed very close…"

"Shut up," Nick didn't hesitate to answer.

"Hey," Warrick through his hands up in defence. "It was just an observation. It's what I'm paid to do."

"Well, observe the crime scene then," Nick insisted, rather childishly.

"I was," he smirked. "You weren't exactly being very discrete."

Nick scowled in disproval.

Warrick laughed and patted his friend on the back. "It's alright, your secret is safe with me."

He'd walked away before Nick had a chance to respond.

Soon, to the relief of everyone, they returned to the lab with bags upon bags of evidence. It was going to be a long night. The evidence was split up and examined, with any minute pieces of evidence being sent to their respective lab tech.

Warrick and Catherine were in the A/V lab with Archie, trying to enhance some video footage from the neighbours CCTV camera hoping to catch a glimpse of the killer and make their night a little easier. No such luck. Catherine eventually told Archie to take a break as his eyes had been glued to the computer screen for a good few hours. Warrick decided to use their time alone to his advantage.

"You'll never guess what I saw earlier," he stated, spinning in his chair and looking rather smug.

"Tell me," Catherine sighed. "I'm sure it's riveting."

"I saw Nick and Sara… looking very cosy," Warrick raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" Catherine sat up straighter and paid closer attention to what he was saying.

"Would I lie to you?"

"When was this? And what do you mean by 'cosy'?" she questioned.

"It was earlier, at the crime scene, you must have been inside at the time. They were standing much closer than usual, and their whole body language was different," he explained. "It was very interesting."

"Very interesting indeed," Catherine nodded, looking very thoughtful.

A few hours later Catherine entered the break room. "Right, finally I've found you two. We need to talk," she stated.

"Ooh, sounds serious," Greg smirked at Warrick, placing the piece of evidence he'd just had in his hands down on the table.

"It's about Nick and Sara," she continued.

"What about Nick and Sara? Are they okay?" Warrick asked.

"Oh, yeah, they're fine. See, that's what this is about; I just don't know how neither of them see it," Catherine rambled.

"See what?" Greg asked.

"The fact that they like each other," Catherine raised her eyebrows as if to say 'come on, keep up.'

"Well, duh. Of course they like each other, they're friends…," it took Greg a further moment to actually realise what she meant. "Oh! You mean they like each other, like each other."

"Yes, wasn't that obvious?" she questioned impatiently. "Anyway…"

"How can you be sure?" Greg interrupted.

"I just am. I see it in Sara, at least. I've been there once or twice before you know, you learn to recognise to signs," Catherine explained. "And as for Nick, well, he's been flirting with her more and more and from what Rick said about the way they acted today at the crime scene…"

Greg glanced briefly at Warrick to gage his thoughts before looking back at Catherine. "So maybe you're right, but what can we do?"

"I'm so glad you asked. Well, I think I'm pretty confident that I can get through to Sara. I just have to tell her that she isn't the first and she won't be the last woman to fall for a friend…," Catherine started, almost excitedly.

"You think she really likes him? I mean _really_ likes him?" Greg interrupted again.

"It's not so crazy a thought, is it? It's not so out there in the realm of possibilities. And would you stop interrupting me?"

"Yeah, right, sorry," Greg shrugged sheepishly. "You, uh, you were saying…"

"Yes, I was saying that I'll handle Sara but that means you guys need to speak to Nick, man to man. You need to talk some sense into him," she stated.

"Uh, Cath, I don't know if you've noticed but it's not always that easy to talk to guys about their feelings," Warrick added.

"Yes, I am aware of that. But you won't be talking, you'll be telling. Tell him that it's alright that he likes Sara as more than a friend, tell him he should do something about it," Catherine reasoned.

Warrick found himself nodding along in agreement.

"Hmm, I'm still not sure," Greg confessed. "What if you're wrong? I don't even know if we should really be interfering. Shouldn't we just leave it for them to figure it out for themselves? You know what Grissom would say if he knew."

Catherine snapped, glaring at him. "Are you up for this or not? Are you going to help?"

Greg sighed exasperatedly. "Sure, anything for Sara."

"And you, Warrick? I'm counting on you."

"Wow, no pressure then," Warrick sighed, rubbing his forehead. "But I was with it from the start. He likes her, for sure."

"Great. Well, get going then," Catherine insisted.

"What, now?" Greg questioned.

"When else? You didn't think I wanted you to wait till next week or something, did you?" Catherine asked, giving the younger CSI a pointed stare.

Greg looked away. "No, of course not."

Catherine sighed, gradually running out of patience. "Just go and find Nicky."

Catherine left the room, leaving Warrick and Greg trying to gather their thoughts. It wasn't that hard, was it? All they had to do was talk to him, she knew Nick would listen to them, Warrick especially. She knew she could count on them; she knew they'd figure something out. But she had her half of the deal to stick to while she waited for the ballistics report. She set about finding Sara, perhaps the easiest of her upcoming tasks. Catherine found her in the garage, looking thoughtful as she stared at the victims' family car, seemingly waiting for the evidence to just jump out at her.

"Hey," Sara piped up, looking over her shoulder, upon hearing her colleague approach.

"Fancy some coffee?" Catherine asked, thinking on her feet. "The proper stuff from Starbucks? I nominate myself to do a coffee run. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure," Sara nodded, removing her latex gloves. "I could use a break."

They walked out together in silence and climbed into Catherine's car to head to the nearest coffee shop. Once they'd bought the coffees they stayed in the car drinking and thinking.

"So, how've you been?" Catherine spoke up, cradling her coffee cup.

Sara raised an eyebrow in suspicion and confusion. "I'm fine."

"That's good," Catherine nodded. "Do you wanna talk about anything?"

"What's this about?" Sara asked, not willing to answer her question.

Catherine sighed, mumbling into her coffee cup as she took a sip. "I just wanted to talk about Nick."

"What about Nick?" Sara questioned, giving her a 'get to the point' look.

"The pair of you seem to be getting on well," she pointed out.

"Well, yeah, of course we are, we always have. Seriously, Cath, what's going on? What's this about?"

"I think you like Nick, a lot," Catherine explained, being somewhat vague.

"What?" Sara scoffed. "I don't know what you think you know but…"

"You can't deny it, Sara," she insisted. "I know what I see."

"I really don't have a clue what you're talking about," she maintained half-heartedly, folding her arms over her chest.

Catherine gave her a sympathetic look. "Honestly, you can admit it you know. You can admit you have feelings for him, the world isn't going to end. You can tell me."

"And what would you say if I did have feelings for Nick, hypothetically?" Sara gulped down the lump rising in her throat.

"Well, I suppose I would say that there is nothing to be ashamed about. And I'd say I don't blame you for liking Nick. No one has any control over who they fall for. You could have done a lot worse. Would it be so bad to find out if he felt the same?" Catherine wondered.

"No, he wouldn't like me," Sara answered immediately. "He doesn't like me. I'm not Nick's type."

"How would you know if you've not asked him?"

"I just do," Sara stared through the window.

"I think you just might be surprised if you were to ask him how he felt," Catherine insisted. "I think he might just feel the same way about you. Or you never know, maybe he'll do all the hard work and ask you."

"What?" Sara sniggered. "You've got to be joking? It'll never happen."

"Why not?"

Sara quickly rationalised the situation. "Because this is a hypothetical scenario and none of this is going to happen. And it really isn't any of your concern."

"Come on, you must see the way you two are when you're together? You have great chemistry, and you work so well together. It's not too hard to see how you two would have perhaps developed feelings of another nature towards each other," she stated. "I really believe the feelings are mutual."

Sara sighed. She couldn't refute Catherine's statements forever. "Ok, maybe. Maybe I thought there was a bit of something there, a bit. But I wasn't sure. I don't want to ruin what we already have. We couldn't risk letting our personal lives interfere with our professional lives. There's too much at stake."

Catherine smiled at her, glad she was finally opening up.

"And if I'm being honest, I didn't want to believe it either, I guess. I mean, why would he like me?"

"Maybe for the same reasons you like him," Catherine offered.

"I just wish it were someone else other than Nick. Anyone but Nick," Sara sighed, shaking her head.

"You don't mean that," Catherine raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe not, but it'd be easier," Sara slumped down slightly in her chair.

"Life would be boring if we always took the easy option," Catherine stated wisely, giving Sara a knowing look as she continued. "Seriously though, Nick might just surprise you."

Sara rolled her eyes.

"You know what they say, opportunity knocks but once…," Catherine shrugged. "You don't want to let the opportunity go, you may only have one chance."

Sara gave her a look that said she was done talking and Catherine turned the engine on, hoping she'd managed to get through to her. They set off back to the lab, while the coffees were still moderately warm.

Thank you for reading. Review please.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Thank you for my reviews so far! Sorry this is a bit long. Here's the next part…

Chapter 2

Sara flopped down on the sofa in the break room. She was exhausted. It had been a very long night, and subsequently a long day after the entire team ended up pulling a double. Running on about 8 hours sleep and nearly as many cups of coffee, Sara had nothing left to give. That's just who she was; she'd push herself to the limit till she could give no more. She was beyond frustrated with herself when she finally knew she had to give up searching for fingerprint matches in AFIS and go home for some well needed sleep and come back the next day with fresh eyes and more importantly a fresh mind. However, Sara being Sara and being as stubborn as she was, she inwardly refused to leave. She was determined to finish this last task and then go home. She just needed more coffee. But on entering the break room she lost that battle with herself and collapsed on the sofa instead; it seemed like the rational thing to do when one is too tired to even go home.

"Wow, you look like…," Nick smirked as he swiftly walked into the room and headed straight for the coffee machine.

"Don't you dare say it," Sara insisted. "I'm not in the mood."

"When are you ever?" he asked rhetorically, knowing it would provoke a reaction.

"Just get me coffee," Sara demanded, leaning her head against the back of the sofa.

"What would you do if I said no?" Nick wondered, filling her coffee cup with fresh coffee anyway.

"Do I even have to answer that?"

Nick merely rolled his eyes and slowly walked towards her, carefully balancing a cup of coffee for himself and one for his tired co-worker.

Sara looked up upon hearing him approach. She looked slightly stunned to see him carrying two cups of coffee, but gratefully accepted one. She didn't actually expect him to do as she'd asked, or more accurately demanded from him. "Oh. Thank you," she smiled sheepishly.

"See, now that's much more ladylike," Nick winked as he sat down beside her.

"I'd hardly call myself a lady right now," Sara scoffed before taking a long sip of her hot coffee.

"Well, trust me Sar, you don't exactly look like a guy," Nick arched an eyebrow.

"But I still don't feel very ladylike," she insisted.

"How would you describe yourself then?"

"Hmm, perhaps something similar to a zombie?" Sara stated, though it came out more as a question as she waited for Nick's approval.

"Well, I can say with full confidence that you are by far the prettiest zombie I've ever seen," he grinned.

Sara blushed and averted her eyes to the floor.

"Sara, you don't give yourself enough credit," Nick stated. "And you most certainly don't look after yourself half as much as you should."

"Sorry, _mother_," she smirked.

"You know exactly what I mean," Nick insisted, ignoring her comment. "You know full well that no human should ever be as tried as you are now."

Sara sighed, reluctantly. "It's just this case…"

"It's just every case," he gave her a 'you know I'm right' look.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "I… I can't help it, it's just who I am."

"I know. And I get it. But you could still make time for yourself," he reasoned.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," Sara shook her head as she stood up and walked over to the sink. "I've got much more important things to think about at this moment in time."

Her statement had a double meaning. Not only did she have the case to think about but Catherine's words had imprinted themselves on her brain. Sara wasn't about to forget what she'd said in a hurry, no matter how hard she tried. Should something like that really have effected her so much? She supposed that it didn't help seeing Nick. Well, perhaps, it was the timing of their meeting that was worse than actually seeing him. But every time their eyes met Catherine's words would echo in her ears again.

Sara sighed and downed the majority of her coffee, despite the fact it was pretty much still as hot as it was when Nick first poured it. She forced a smile as she turned to face him. "I've got work I should be doing."

And off she went, before Nick had a chance to say anything else. He hoped he hadn't said anything that offended her, that was the last thing he wanted. In his head, he was merely telling her the truth, telling her things from how he saw them. He cared about her and he wanted her to look after herself. That's what friends do. He hoped that if the tables were turned she would talk to him and make sure he was alright. They did a stressful job, he had a few grey hairs to prove it, and he knew that sometimes it's easy to just get sucked in. He wanted Sara to know he was there for her should she ever need him, day or night. They'd both been through a lot; if he couldn't sympathise with her, no one could.

Nick stood up and walked through the halls, deciding what was his best plan of action. He eventually decided to head back to the layout room where the evidence of their case was still on display. He picked up one of the sealed plastic bags containing some fibres, car fibres as Hodges had deduced, so chose to put his mind to good use. He'd thought about going home but figured if Sara was sticking around then he would too.

Nick worked away, clicking and typing on the computer, searching through car manufacturers websites to hopefully spring up a lead. He was beginning to get frustrated, both at himself and at the horrendous case. He just wanted some answers now, for his own peace of mind if nothing else.

Nick's pager soon buzzed, causing him to jump slightly. The DNA results he'd been waiting for were finally ready. He shook his head as he stared at the computer screen, at a total loss. He hoped that stepping away from the screen would focus his mind again. But it was late, almost early really into the start of their usual shift, and he was very tired. Maybe he was best just heading home. After he'd got the DNA results.

He slowly made his way back to the break room first, half looking for Sara and half trying to remember if he'd finished his coffee or not. Sure enough, he hadn't. Now that wasn't like him, Sara really must have distracted him. The coffee was barely lukewarm, yet he drank it anyway. He placed his empty cup next to Sara's in the sink and stared off into space for a moment. He only snapped back into reality when he felt as though he was being watched. Nick looked up to see Greg standing one side of him and Warrick standing on the other. He was sandwiched in.

"What?" he asked, continually glancing between both men. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," Greg said, feigning innocence.

"Really? Well, if you don't mind I've got things I have to do," Nick insisted, still looking thoroughly confused. "And I wanna go home at some point today."

Nick pushed his way past Warrick and Greg and headed towards the door but they quickly caught up with him, placing a hand on a shoulder each and pulling him backwards towards the sofa.

"Not so fast, Nicky," Warrick grinned. "We need to have a little chat."

"Can't it wait? I really just want to go home…," he trailed off as they pushed him down on the sofa.

"No, it can't," Greg smirked, taking a chair from underneath the table and sitting almost directly in front of Nick.

"What are you up to?" he repeated, glaring at them.

"We just wanted to talk," Warrick insisted, as if it justified their use of mild force as he perched himself on the arm of the sofa opposite Nick .

"About?" Nick questioned, becoming impatient.

"Just stuff," Greg stated, remembering Catherine's words. "Man to man."

"Right…," Nick looked between the two men, searching for answers. "Can I ask why?"

"We thought you may need some brotherly advice," Warrick smiled.

"Can you just get to the point, please?"

Warrick sighed. "Thought you might want to talk about a certain colleague of ours."

"You've lost me," Nick shook his head.

"A certain brunette," Greg offered, giving him a knowing look.

"Sara? Why would I want to talk about Sara?" Nick asked.

"I don't know, Nick. You tell us," Warrick sat poised, waiting for Nick to elaborate.

"What? You think I like her?" Nick asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

Greg leaned over to Warrick. "Wow, he's smarter than he looks."

"You've got it all wrong…," Nick tried to deny it, perhaps a little too hard.

"Really? Does it look like I was born yesterday?" Warrick raised his eyebrows.

Nick sighed. "No, but…"

"But nothing. It's time to fess up," Greg insisted.

Nick gulped. "Fess up to what?"

Greg looked at Warrick, looking rather annoyed. "Do you wanna hold him while I slap him?"

"None of this is any of your business," Nick insisted. "Either of you."

"We're just trying to help," Greg stated.

"Well, don't. I don't remember asking for any help," Nick exclaimed. "Just stay out of it."

"Look, Nick," Warrick said calmly, hoping to be the voice of reason. "Chill out, man. You might not have asked for our help but maybe we can be of service anyway."

"How?"

"You should ask Sara out," Greg told him, looking rather pleased with himself.

"What? Are you crazy?" Nick scoffed, looking back and forward between the two of them.

"Don't look like I've just told you to ask Warrick out on a date," Greg shook his head in despair. "This is Sara we're talking about."

"And that's exactly why I can't do it," Nick insisted.

"What have you got to lose?" Warrick questioned.

"What if she says no?" Nick countered.

"What if she doesn't?"

"But she might, and that's enough of a risk for me," Nick insisted. "I don't want things to be awkward between us. It's not going to happen."

"Are you chicken?" Warrick bit his lip to prevent himself from smiling.

"No," Nick snapped.

Greg did his best chicken impression.

"Shut up. I'm not scared," Nick maintained. "But it's not going to happen."

"You should do it," Greg insisted. "I can picture the two of you now, falling in love, getting hitched at some big country wedding and making beautiful babies."

Nick glared at him. "Not helping."

"Ignore him," Warrick rolled his eyes. "We… I… just want to help."

"Why should I take your advice?" Nick continued.

"We've given you some good advice in the past," Greg insisted.

"When?" Nick scoffed, evening Warrick giving him an unconvinced look.

"Okay, maybe we haven't be we can start now," Greg shrugged. "Ask her out."

"You want to, right?" Warrick raised an eyebrow. "Judging by the look on your face you do. We know you like her. You just need a bit of encouragement. That's what we're trying to do."

"I do appreciate it, really, but there's no need," Nick shook his head. "I've got everything under control."

"Promise you'll think about it?" Greg requested.

"Can I go now? I've got results to pick up and I really want to go home," Nick complained.

"Promise?" Warrick narrowed his stare.

"Okay, I'll think about it," Nick sighed, standing up.

He rolled his eyes as he walked past Warrick and Greg. When he was near the exit Greg whispered to Warrick, "It means he's gonna do it."

"It means I'll think about it," Nick shouted over his shoulder.

Nick made his way to the DNA lab at long last. He smiled to himself slightly at the thought that maybe Henry was thinking he'd got lost. Worse, he was virtually kidnapped.

Nick filed away the DNA report once he'd read it with the other processed evidence and results and then headed to the locker room. He was more than ready to go home. He still couldn't believe the way Warrick and Greg had acted. He wasn't going to be bullied into anything. But then again, did they have a point? Maybe, a little. He'd thought about asking her out a few times, half serious and half testing himself and his feelings for her. He knew deep down he'd love to be with Sara, and the life Greg planned out for them in just a sentence was beyond idyllic. Did he really have much to lose? He had potentially everything to lose, but maybe he was willing to risk it all. Nick had never really been much of a gambling man, until now. Was he seriously considering it? He suddenly felt very nervous. Yep, he was considering it, considering asking Sara out on a date.

Greg's words floated into his head as she walked through the door. Ask her out.

"Hey, Nick," Sara smiled as she walked into the locker room in a much better mood than before. Her persistence had paid off and she'd eventually got a hit on the fingerprints collected from the scene. She now allowed herself to go home, knowing there was nothing else she could do at that moment until the warrant for their suspects arrest was signed.

"Oh, uh… hey, Sara," Nick nodded, trying to think straight. Was he actually about to do this? Had Greg and Warrick actually convinced him this was a good idea? It seemed so, as the question formed in his head. It was now or never. But what if she said no?

"You alright?" Sara asked as she opened her locker to collect her belongings, sensing Nick had spaced out.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Um, you know, just, uh, tired… I guess," Nick shrugged, slightly embarrassed.

Sara nodded in agreement. "It's been a long twenty-four hours. And I wanted to apologise for the mood I was in earlier. It wasn't your fault the case wasn't going anywhere. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Nick smiled. "No harm done."

"Still, I shouldn't have taken it out on you," she insisted.

Sara massaged her forehead. Her mind was still spinning from everything Catherine had tried to convince her was true several hours ago. Perhaps she was being paranoid, maybe Catherine's words were having an effect on her but she thought something was different about Nick. He seemed distracted. Sara would have thought that he would have had some cheeky comment to make about her working too hard yet he said nothing. Could there have been some truth in what Catherine had said?

She stood there like a spare part, waiting for Nick to say something else. When he didn't Sara chose to continue instead.

"Well, then, I'll um…," Sara didn't even finish her sentence before she started backing out the room.

"Um, actually I, uh, I wanted to ask you something," Nick said, straightening up to face her.

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow and stood in the doorway.

"Yeah," Nick nodded for confirmation.

"And?" Sara urged him to go on.

"Oh yeah," he laughed nervously. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat and somehow found the courage to ask one of his closest friends out on a date. "Do you want to get a drink, sometime?"

Sara looked puzzled. "Sure, Nick. But why sometime? Why not now? I seem to have gotten a sudden boost in energy. Or tomorrow, if that would be better for you?"

She lifted her gaze to meet Nick's and gage his reaction and was shocked by what she saw. The look he was giving her made her think something was going on. It was then that she saw the hopeful look in his eyes that she realised what he was doing. "Oh. Oh…"

Nick nodded sombrely, clenching his lips together and ducking his head. He whispered under his breath, "No going back now."

"Oh, wow…," Sara continued to stutter, very much in shock. "Were you…? Are you asking me…?"

"Out on a date?" Nick sighed. "Yep, I am. But never mind. It's okay. I mean, if you're not interested… I get it, I understand. I just thought I'd… well, you know, I just thought I should ask. You don't know if you don't ask, right? Anyway, it doesn't matter. Forget I said anything."

"No, Nick," Sara insisted before she even knew what she wanted to say. "It's okay, really. I mean… sure."

Nick's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

Sara nodded, exhaling deeply. "Yes. I'd… I'd love to go on a date with you. But only if you promise to wear that red shirt you look so good in?"

Nick gulped. "I… I can do that."

Sara smiled widely. "Alright then."

"I'll call you," Nick said, still looking bewildered.

"Tomorrow?" Sara asked, maybe a bit too quickly.

"Careful, you don't want to sound too eager," he teased.

"I just wondered…," Sara trailed off, fidgeting slightly.

"Yeah, I'll call you later, you know, so you don't have a chance to see sense and change your mind," he joked.

"I'm not likely to do that. If anyone's going to see sense, it'll be you."

"Nope, that's not going to happen," Nick shook his head. "It's taken me this long to get this far, I'm not backing out now."

"So we're actually going to do this?"

"It would definitely seem that way," Nick smiled.

Sara stepped out into the hallway as she addressed Nick for the last time. "Speak to you later."

And she was gone.

Thank you for reading. Last part up tomorrow. Review please.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Here's the third and final part. Sorry it's a day late. Thanks again for my reviews. I hope to have some more stories up soon, I have a few in the works.

Chapter 3

The light shone through his curtains, the sun slowly rising outside. Nick lay in his bed, unable to get back to sleep. Thankfully he had slept for a short while, but a car alarm beeping from the opposite side of the road had woken him from his slumber. He supposed he mustn't have been in a deep sleep to have woken so easily. But now he was wide awake, so got up to fix himself something for breakfast. It was rather unusual that he was awake during daylight hours, as he would normally be about to drop off to sleep at this time. But he loved watching the sun rise, and he never could truly appreciate it when he was grouchy and sleep deprived. But today was different, Nick may not have slept much but it felt as though he'd slept better than he had in months. Today was the day he and Sara would go out on their very first date.

He ate his breakfast fairly quickly. Then he didn't know what to do with himself. He thought about getting a shower, but decided to call Sara first. He picked up his phone, his hands noticeably shaking. Nick paced the floor, tossing the phone from one hand to the other over and over again. Eventually he placed his phone down on the coffee table, and sat on the sofa staring at it. He breathed deeply, rubbing his clammy hands together. How was he this nervous? It was only Sara. He was only calling her, like he'd done so many other times before. But this time was very different. He was a wreck. He was scared to call her in case she'd changed her mind about going on a date with him, which of course she was more than entitled to do. Maybe she'd seen sense, like he thought she would. She would be polite about it no doubt, but she would break his heart if she cancelled.

Nick cleared his throat and picked up the phone and again. He'd come this far already and he would forever regret it if he didn't make that all important call. Whatever happened, whatever Sara was going to say, Nick would have to except it and deal with it. He dialled the number he knew off by heart and put the phone to his ear as it began to ring.

As soon as Sara answered her phone Nick blurted out his question, asking if she wanted to go out that night. In his defence he hadn't thought about what he was going to say when he spoke to her. But Sara was fine about it. To his utter relief Sara hadn't even considered changing her mind. Nick did a little fist pump in the air in celebration. He told her that he could take her somewhere nice and they could get something to eat before their shift started, and she agreed. They arranged for Nick to pick Sara up at six o'clock to allow them to have plenty of time to enjoy themselves and then still be able to get to work on time.

Nick dropped the phone on the sofa and couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face, though he didn't try very hard. There was definitely no going back now. He was going to make the night a very special one. It was their first date after all, the first of many, he hoped.

Nick walked through to his kitchen, mentally noting the things he had to do. Suddenly he remembered what Sara had said about the red shirt. He dashed off to his bedroom to check if it was clean, knowing exactly the shirt she was referring to. Luckily for him it was. Panic averted. The prompted him to decide that he should watch something on TV to distract himself. He got comfy and flicked through the channels, before dropping off minutes after he picked something on the discovery channel.

Meanwhile, it was fair to say that Sara was on the verge of freaking out. She had managed to sleep the night before which was quite frankly a miracle. But she knew that no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't have been able to get anymore sleep, yet she tried anyway. Her efforts failed, and she lay in her bed for nearly 2 hours just watching the clock. In the end she got up, knowing there was better things she could have been doing with her time. She quickly ate a bowl of her favourite cereal before getting a shower. Half an hour later she was stood in the middle of her bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body, staring the clothes she'd selected and laid out on her bed. She was going to take her time to decide what to wear, something that she very rarely did. She went for a simple dress in a purple, almost plum colour, hoping that less would be more. Sara also picked out a necklace and a set of earrings to go with her dress, and set about getting ready for her date, wondering where he was planning on taking her.

He woke with a start several hours later, panicking that he'd overslept. Thankfully he hadn't. Nick chose to get up and shower, instead of risking falling back to sleep again. Once he was washed and dried, he was toying between whether to wear a tie or not. Would it be too formal for just a date? Would he look too casual without one? And should he have a shave again? He'd shaved the day before but chose to shave again, applying ample amount of aftershave. In the end he went for a simple thin black tie to go with his dark red shirt and jeans. Casual yet sophisticated, at least that was the impression he was going for. With time ticking by Nick left early, reasoning he could circle the block a few times if the traffic wasn't busy.

Sara's heart nearly stopped when there was a knock at the door. He was early. A few choice words entered her head as she moved frantically around her apartment, searching for where she'd placed her shoes. She reasoned that she would have been freaking out more had he been late, so early was better. Sara found her shoes under the coffee table and stumbled across her living room as she pulled them on and then took a second to compose herself before opening the door.

Nick stood there, smiling, but obviously nervous. This made her relax a bit, knowing he was just as anxious about this date as she was. It was make or break for them. They had so much riding on this date going well that they needed to remember to enjoy it.

"Wow, you look…," Nick's eyes widened.

"What? Is it too much? I didn't know what to wear," Sara tried her best to explain, feeling very embarrassed.

"No, you look amazing, beautiful in fact," Nick smiled sweetly at her.

Sara chuckled. "Ever the charmer."

Nick just shrugged, blushing slightly. "Well, you know…"

Sara rolled her eyes at him as she picked up her earrings from the bookcase beside the door where she'd left them, for some reason. She'd been frantically getting ready that it was a miracle that her earrings were in a moderately sensible place, and not inside the freezer.

"Honestly though, you look stunning," he insisted.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she smirked. "Nice shirt."

"Well, a little birdie told me to wear it," Nick insisted, somehow keeping a straight face. "We scrub up well, huh?"

"We do. Just give me a minute," Sara insisted, heading over to the mirror in her hallway, continuing to struggle with her earrings.

"Anything I can help with?"

"No, I got it," she stated as she approached the door again.

"Your carriage awaits," Nick smiled nervously, moving to one side to let Sara past him.

Sara took a deep breath before stepping out the door.

Their date got off to a shaky start, when the waiter at the lovely restaurant Nick had taken her to had no reference of the booking that he'd made. It was last minute, but he'd definitely made it; he'd called before he left to pick her up just to be sure. But the restaurant staff didn't know they were coming. Everything was sorted out soon enough, as the place wasn't overly busy. Nick apologised repeatedly as they sat down, but it didn't make a difference to Sara, it allowed her time to calm her nerves.

After that, the date went by without a hitch. The conversation was easy and continuous, with no awkward pauses. Nick indirectly let it slip that he'd had feeling for her for a while, much to Sara's astonishment. They managed to talk about other things besides work too. The company was excellent, and so was the food. It was the perfect evening Nick had hoped it would be.

But then when the food had been eaten and the check arrived they both had to come to the conclusion that the evening was drawing to a close, though in reality to them the night was only just beginning. Nick paid the bill, as he'd always planned to, but Sara protested as he always knew she would. They walked side by side, hand in hand, back to Nick's car, with Nick being ever the gentleman and opening the door for her. He was sad to see their date end but was glad it had gone well.

They pulled into the car park in silence. They sat there for a moment before Nick got out and went round to the passenger side door and opened the door for Sara, as he'd already done a few times that night. She smiled at his politeness. They slowly walked together awkwardly towards Sara's apartment building, but came to a stop a few metres away.

"Um, so I uh, I guess this is goodbye, for now," Nick stuttered as he turned to address his date, his nerves rising.

"But we'll see each other soon, in a couple of hours in fact," Sara corrected him.

"Not too long to wait then," Nick nodded in agreement, nervously twitching his fingers.

"Yep," Sara copied his nervous stance.

Nick inhaled sharply and swallowed all inhibitions as he leaned in and kissed Sara on the lips. It was only a small, sweet kiss, a token gesture, a thank you for the wonderful evening they had spent together, the wonderful first date. It was all sort of a dream, but kissing Sara made it real.

He pulled away slowly, smiling softly. It was sort of a relief to get that first kiss over and done with, in a good way. It'd been on his mind since Sara had agreed to go on a date with him. He couldn't help himself. He'd always dreamt about kissing her, feeling her smooth skin beneath his fingers.

Sara looked into his eyes incredulously. She couldn't believe he'd just kissed her, not that she hadn't wanted him to. She'd just been taken by surprise; she wasn't expecting it at all. She'd assumed that Nick might have wanted to take it slow, for some reason. But was glad and pleasantly surprised that he hadn't. That was one hell of a first kiss, for as short as it was.

Nick took a step back and cleared his throat. "Um, yeah, so I'll see you tonight."

He kept walking down the path a few more steps until Sara actually realised what he was doing.

"Hey," she called after him, walking purposefully towards him. "What, that's it? That's all you got? Nobody walks away from me after a kiss like that."

Nick smiled. He could tell she was trying to act all mad and serious but he saw right through it. He thought, if anything, she sounded cute. He cupped her face as he leaned in to kissed her again. It was a must deeper kiss. He smiled against her lips as he could have sworn he felt the smallest of moans vibrated from inside her throat. This time the kiss lasted longer, had more purpose to it and was full with all the things they'd both been keeping pent up inside of them.

This time it was Sara who pulled away first, slightly out of breath. She knew they had to stop before they got carried away. After all, it was only there first date, and they needed to take things slow and keep things simple.

Nick seemed sad that she'd pulled away, but was the first to speak again, though his voice was slightly groggy. "Don't be late for work."

Sara scoffed and pushed him gently on the shoulder. "I'll be early."

"As always," Nick rolled his eyes mockingly.

Sara's mind was still in over drive after their kiss that the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Are you always this mean to all your girlfriends?"

She could have hit herself when she realised what she'd said. She'd gone and put her foot right in it. "Me and my big mouth," she mumbled.

Nick looked at her for a moment, speechless. He'd been caught quite off guard. But quickly recovered and smiled at her. "No, not normally, but you're special," he grinned, answering her question.

Sara's heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She simply nodded at him, not able to form words at that moment. She found it quite frankly bizarre that they'd gone from being friends and colleagues one day to be something more the next, though she didn't know exactly what yet. They'd gone from flirting in the crime lab to kissing in the middle of the street. All Sara could do was smile and wave as he slid into his car and drove away. Had this day actually happened?

A few hours later Nick and Sara were sat in the break room at the crime lab, as if their date that evening had never happened at all. They were sent to separate crime scenes and barely even had a chance to speak to each other.

"Hi," Sara smiled as she entered the break room, a couple of hours before shift ended.

"Hey," Nick smiled back. "I tried looking for you earlier but I couldn't find you anywhere. Where did you go?"

"You clearly didn't look everywhere," she stated. "I was interrogating a suspect."

"And did your suspect confess?" Nick asked, before quickly back tracking. "Wait, of course they confessed, a saint would confess to you."

"Jealousy is a horrible emotion," she pursed her lips to prevent a smile forming.

"Yeah?" he arched an eyebrow.

"Obviously you are jealous of my interrogating ability and feel threatened," she did her best to stay straight faced.

"Obviously," he rolled his eyes, as he sat down on the sofa.

Sara smiled, slightly brighter than perhaps she should have as she sat down next to him.

"I really did enjoy myself yesterday," Sara stated, blushing slightly at the thought of their kiss.

"As long as you has a good time that's all that matters," Nick smiled, leaning his arm round the back of the sofa. "I had a good time too."

"Can I ask you something?" Sara wondered.

"Of course you can. You can ask me anything you want."

"Why now?" she asked simply. "Why did you ask me out on a date now?"

"Well, why not?" he countered.

"I'm not sorry you did, quite the opposite. I'm glad you did. I was just curious, that's all," Sara maintained. "If you've liked me for as long as you say you have then why haven't you done something about it sooner?"

"That is an excellent question," he laughed nervously. "To be honest, I'm not sure why I never spoke to you about how I felt before, I guess it never felt like the right moment."

"I guess that makes sense," Sara nodded. "It's not the type of thing that often comes up in conversation."

"Exactly," Nick agreed.

"I'll have to let you off with it then," Sara smirked.

He chose to continue. "I suppose I finally realised I've been putting it off for too long. Doing the job we do you come to realise the meaning of life, the shortness of it. I couldn't just sit back anymore, I had to do something about my feelings for you. And I was in luck, because you agreed to go out on a date with me."

Sara's smile widened as the last few words left his mouth.

"Something could happen to me, Sara, my nine lives could finally run out," he continued. "I don't want to have any regrets."

As the words came out he felt a sense of relief in a way. He tried to pretend to Warrick and Greg, and himself too, that it didn't matter about his feelings for Sara, but really it did. Nick was so pleased that she'd agreed to go on a date with him. It triggered something in him. He was starting to believe they could have a future together, truly believe it, for as premature a thought as it was. He didn't quite want to admit it though, for fear it may never come true.

"But I did have a little help… from Warrick and Greg," Nick admitted, reluctant to say who.

"I didn't think you came up with the whole thing by yourself," she smirked.

"All they did was tell me to ask you out," he defended himself. "I did everything else myself."

"What do you want, a medal?" Sara asked sarcastically yet playfully.

The pair fell into an easy silence, enjoying each others company, and contemplating the night that had just past. They both knew the hardest part of their new flourishing relationship would be acting completely natural at work, acting as though nothing was going on between the two of them. And Sara came to the conclusion that they would also have to talk about where they thought this new relationship was going. It was a scary thought really, that their relationship could shift to something quite different all together, but she was prepared to try if he was.

Sara licked her lips slightly as she decided to move in to kiss him, just to keep him on his toes, and to thank him for his honesty. It would be a good place to pick up from the night before; as the saying goes, begin as you wish to continue. Having said that, she knew she shouldn't have been even thinking about kissing him during work hours but she reasoned that there was no one around, as she looked over her shoulder to check. She gave Nick a look, and he raised his eyebrows in return but soon understood what she was up to. Sara was a mere inch away from locking lips with Nick again when he spoke up.

"If this is going to happen every time we're alone in work…," Nick mused, bracing himself for only their third kiss.

Sara closed her eyes in preparation for their lips meeting but in doing so something caught the corner of her. Her eyes snapped open and she wasn't best pleased by who she saw.

"I hate to do this but…," Sara sighed, reluctantly pointing over Nick's shoulder to Greg and Warrick who were standing outside the doorway, acting suspicious.

"Ooh, look at those two," Greg commented, poking his head round the door.

"It's about time," Warrick commented.

"Can we help you?" Nick looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows, clearly not impressed.

"No, we were just wondering how you two were doing," Greg stated, trying his best to look innocent.

"We?" Warrick exclaimed. "This is all you, man. I'm just here to stop you doing something stupid."

Nick stood up and headed towards the door. "For as lovely as this is…"

"So anything going on here that we should know about?" Greg asked, rather bluntly.

"It's none of your business," Nick insisted when he reached the door. "It's never going to be any of your business, no matter how hard you try to make it so."

Nick took the opportunity to close the door, almost in Greg's very shocked face.

"But…," Greg huffed like a small child on the other side of the door as Nick pulled down the blinds on the door and the surrounding windows, so they wouldn't be disturbed anymore.

He spun round to face Sara. "So, where were we?"

Sara had to try harder than she thought she ought to have to stop herself from laughing. She found it quite sweet how Nick was defensive of their newly forming relationship. It really must have meant something to him, and that made her feel even better than she did when they were on their first date.

Nick sat down, clearly poised for them to pick up exactly where they'd left off, but Sara had other ideas.

"The moment's gone," she told him, raising an eyebrow. "But we shouldn't have been doing it anyway."

"Doing what?" Nick asked, feigning innocence. "We didn't do anything."

"Nearly doing it then," Sara glared at him. "We shouldn't have been nearly kissing, not in work."

"Well, you started it," he pointed out.

"And you never complained once," she insisted.

Nick smiled at her. "Can you blame me?"

Sara leaned against the back of the sofa, only managing to cast a smirk in his direction.

"Where do we stand?" Nick asked, looking at her with questioning eyes, changing the subject slightly. "Are we… together?"

"I suppose we are, maybe, if you want us to be, that is," Sara looked away, not daring to look into his eyes.

"Of course I want us to be, why do you think I asked?"

"But there's no rush, no pressure of any kind?" she intended it to come as a statement but instead it turned into more of a question.

"Not at all. If that's what you want then that's what's going to happen," he agreed.

"I just don't want to lose what we already have, you know?" she looked him in the eye at last. "I don't want to lose our friendship."

"And we'll do our best for that not to happen," he maintained. "This is all new to me, as it is to you. I don't know where this is going but I would really like to find out."

"So would I," Sara admitted, letting out a slight chuckle as she continued. "We'll just have to take every day as it comes."

"Agreed," Nick nodded.

"I had a good time with you yesterday," she announced, though she'd said it already.

"So do you think I'll maybe get a second date with you then?" Nick asked, grinning.

"I would say a second date is definitely on the cards."

Thank you for reading. New stories to come soon. Review please.


End file.
